Dr. Joby Bell 
University Organist
Assistant Professor
Organ and Sacred Music Studies
Music Director, Appalachian Chorale
Room 420, Broyhill Music Center
Phone (828) 262-6467
belljr@appstate.edu
www.jobybell.org

Biography/Resume:

JOBY BELL (b. 1968) garnered the Audience Prize and Second Prize in the 2000 American Guild of Organists National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance. He maintains an active schedule as solo performer, clinician, and collaborative organist. He has performed at the invitation of numerous chapters and conventions of the American Guild of Organists, the Victoria Bach Festival, the Houston Masterworks Chorus, the Washington National Cathedral, and the Conferences on Worship and Music at Montreat Conference Center, NC. His concertizing throughout the United States has met with high acclaim, while his performances abroad have been enthusiastically received in Paris, Chartres, London, and throughout Scotland, Romania, and Hungary.

Dr. Bell attended high school at the North Carolina School of the Arts, where he studied piano with Marian Hahn and Robert McDonald. He earned the Bachelor of Music degree in organ and piano from Appalachian State University and the Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in organ from Rice University. His teachers include H. Max Smith and Clyde Holloway, organ, and Rodney Reynerson and Allen Kindt, piano. His dissertation, “The Grand Organs of Notre-Dame and Saint-Sulpice, Paris: The Magna Opera of Aristide Cavaillé-Coll and a Critical Comparison of Their Alterations,” explores these important instruments’ tonal relationships and the subsequent changes made to them.

Dr. Bell served as Associate Director of Music at the Church of St. John the Divine and as Organist at St. Philip Presbyterian Church and First Presbyterian Church, all in Houston. He also served as a vocal coach/accompanist at St. Agnes Academy, Strake Jesuit College Preparatory, and Houston Baptist University. Since 2004, he has served on the faculty of the Hayes School of Music, Appalachian State University, where he teaches organ and sacred music studies. His teaching specializes in memorization and practice techniques, service playing, choral accompanying, and maintaining grace under pressure. Dr. Bell currently serves as Interim Organist at the First Presbyterian Church of Lenoir, NC.

www.jobybell.org

Education:

Doctor of Musical Arts, Organ Performance, Rice University, 2002
Master of Music, Organ Performance, Rice University, 1997
Bachelor of Music, Organ and Piano Performance, Appalachian State University, 1990
Diploma, North Carolina School of the Arts, 1986

Positions:

Organist, First Presbyterian Church, Houston, TX, 1997-2005
Organist, St. Philip Presbyterian Church, Houston, TX 1995-1997
Interim Organist/Choirmaster, Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit, Houston, TX 1995
Associate Organist/Choirmaster, Episcopal Church of St. John the Divine, Houston, TX 1990-1994
Organist, Boone United Methodist Church, Boone, NC 1989-1990
Organist/Choirmaster, Crossnore Presbyterian Church, Crossnore, NC 1988-1989